


Thankful For Chaos

by SaraJaye



Series: Ever After 'Verse [17]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Family Fluff, M/M, Married Keith/Shiro (Voltron), Thanksgiving, kitchen mishaps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:22:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21589063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: Keith and Shiro wake up to a less than pleasant Thanksgiving surprise.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Series: Ever After 'Verse [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1175930
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22
Collections: fic_promptly Fills 2019





	Thankful For Chaos

**Author's Note:**

> _Author's choice, author's choice, thankful for the little things._

As someone who'd grown up with so little, Keith knew something about thankfulness even now. He was a celebrated hero, a respected flight instructor, married to a man who loved him more than the universe itself and would give him as much just to make him happy.

But he didn't _need_ the universe. He was thankful enough for Shiro alone and always would be, even if they still lived in the shack.

It was after seven, but there was no rush to get up. Shiro's arms were snug around him, nice and warm, and the bed was soft and welcoming. It was a big day, yeah, and they'd need to wake up sooner or later, but their preparations were more or less finished. The guests weren't coming until around one that afternoon, and they wouldn't be eating until two.

(He'd never understand that Thanksgiving "rule," but since Grandma was bringing the turkey he didn't see the need to worry about timing. Everything else would take an hour, probably less.)

He closed his eyes, feeling Shiro hold him closer, and had almost drifted back to sleep when he heard a crash from downstairs followed by yelling and barking. The smell of something seconds away from burning soon hit his nose, and he was suddenly wide awake.

"It's too early," he groaned. "Takashi, wake up, I think the kids just did something dumb." Shiro sighed, pulling himself out of the bed.

"All of them, or just one?" Shiro threw his robe on while Keith tugged on his sweatpants and Shiro's shirt, and they padded downstairs. The burnt smell was stronger, mingling with a sickeningly sweet smell, and there were drops of some kind of liquid on the floor.

The kitchen was a wreck. Pots and pans everywhere, broth spilled all over the floor, the kids' pajamas soaked. A misshapen pie, black around the edges, sat on top of the stove.

"The pie caught fire," Danny said bluntly. "But it wasn't my fault!"

"It was mine," Lisa sighed. "But the soup? That was Sven." Sven glared at her, crossing his arms over his chest.

"It was not! Yurak is the one who was underfoot, and I merely tripped!"

"You _were_ awfully close to the stove, though," Athena said. "But I'm the one who overfilled the big pot! Sorry!" She sloshed her way through the broth to the sink. "At least I can clean up the cereal bowls while I'm here!"

Kosmo and Yurak were happily licking up the spilled soup, at least what they weren't splashing around in. They were going to need baths, and they hated baths.

Chaos. Complete and utter chaos. Keith shook his head, going to the closet to grab a mop and some towels.

"Please tell me you didn't take one of the pies out of the fridge to bake," he said.

"We put this one together all by ourselves," Lisa said. "We have apple, great-grandma's bringing pumpkin, so we thought we'd make cherry and then we'd have three."

"There's only going to be ten of us, you know," Shiro said. "I think two pies plus whatever dessert Craig brings will be enough." Keith stepped gingerly onto the freshly-dried portion of kitchen floor and tossed towels to the soaked kids, eyeing the ruined pie. The filling had oozed through the crust, and there were burnt patches of butter spread across it. He couldn't figure out how _that_ had led to the thing catching fire, but maybe it was better if he didn't know.

"And what's with the soup?"

"We had vegetable soup last year, remember? And it was _so_ good, we wanted to try to make our own," Athena said. "We uh, kind of wasted those boxes of broth in the pantry, sorry." At least that was _all_ they'd wasted, Keith thought as he and Shiro took their time cleaning up. The kids pitched in, smelling of broth, and the unfortunate pie was thrown in the trash as soon as Shiro deemed it incapable of setting fire to anything else.

"We're _really_ sorry, Papa," Sven said quietly. "We merely wanted to help contribute to the dinner. Athena and I are no longer children, we'll be adults soon enough, and we must learn to pull our weight."

"And that means doing more than helping bake cookies and make placemats," Athena added. "And you guys looked so tired after all the work you did with Uncle Hunk on the yams and the stuffing and everything."

"We thought we'd surprise you," Danny said. "I had the idea that we'd all get up extra early and get to work."

"And I bought the extra pie stuff with my own money," Lisa finished. "But we just made a mess of things. Sorry we put a dent in Thanksgiving."

Keith shook his head, pulling her and Sven into a hug while Shiro embraced Danny and Athena.

"You didn't put a dent in anything," Keith said. "You four are the most considerate, thoughtful kids any fathers could ask for and not a day goes by that we're not thankful for you." Shiro chuckled.

"You're picking up the sap habit from me, babe."

"Well, I mean it." Because being a father was one of the most rewarding things in his life, even the less than fun parts of raising kids. Misunderstandings, sibling fights, tantrums, sneaking treats to the dogs under the table, destroying the kitchen because they just wanted to help with Thanksgiving so badly. "We really do appreciate the thought. But next time, maybe you'd better plan ahead a bit more."

"And use smaller pots. And less pie filling," Shiro added. "And put up the no-teleporting tags on the kitchen door to keep the dogs out." Kosmo and Yurak barked, bounding over to join in the hugs. "Yes, we're thankful for you boys, too."

"Now, you kids go upstairs and wash off, put some dry pajamas on," Keith said. "I'll make us some hot chocolate, and we'll watch the parade and all the cartoon specials together."

"Yay!" the kids cheered, hurrying up the stairs. Kosmo and Yurak teleported to the living room and laid down for a nap, and Keith smiled, looking at the pile of dirty towels.

"Well, I'd say Thanksgiving's off to a colorful start!"

"So much for sleeping in." Shiro hugged him, kissing the top of his head. "Oh, well. Watching TV with you and our kids is better than sleeping anyway." Keith nestled into his arms, sighing happily.

_I'm thankful for you and our four crazy kids every day of the year, Shiro._


End file.
